Various types of networks, particularly the Internet and private networking, are increasingly being used for supplying information from a remote location to user terminals located at different user locations. In such systems, the information, such as E-mail, news, voice, or the like, is provided by an Information Provider at the remote location via a Service Provider connected to the user terminals via a communication line, e.g., the telephone line. Each of the user terminals includes a dialing device for calling the Service Provider at the remote location; and the remote location includes a control system for controlling the transfer of information to the calling terminal via modems or any communication device in the user terminals at the remote locations.
In the present systems, an information-transfer connection is made in the communication line for every call made to the Service Provider whether or not there is information available at the remote location for the particular calling terminal. For example, if the information is e-mail, an information-transfer connection is made after the calling terminal dials the Service Provider even though the Service Provider informs the user that no information (e-mail) is to be provided the user. Thus, the communication line to the Service Provider remains connected, and the caller is charged, even if there is no available information for the calling terminal, thereby increasing the charges to the caller and adding to the load on the communication lines.
An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus, and also a method, for supplying information stored in an Information Provider at a remote location, which apparatus and method have advantages in the above respects.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information supply apparatus for supplying information stored in an Information Provider at a remote location, via a communication line with caller or user name identification, and a Service Provider at the remote location, to a calling terminal located at a user location and having a dialing device for dialing the Service Provider at the remote location, comprising a control system at the remote location programmed: (a) after a calling terminal dials the Service Provider but before an information-transfer connection is made via the communication line, to make a determination whether or not there is information stored in the Information Provider for the respective calling terminal; (b) if the determination is positive, to complete the information-transfer connection between the calling terminal and the Service Provider; and (c) if the determination is negative, to delay the completion of the information-transfer connection between the calling terminal and the Service Provider for a predetermined time interval sufficient to enable the calling terminal to disconnect the communication line before the information-transfer connection is completed.
As used herein, the terms "germinal" and"client" are intended to include all types of telephones or other communication devices.
According to further features in the described preferred embodiments, the control system is programmed to make the determination by first checking whether or not there is stored therein the identification of the respective calling terminal, and if so, then checking whether or not there is stored therein information for the calling terminal.
More particularly, in the described preferred embodiments, the control system includes a data base storing the identifications of all the user terminals connectable via the communication line to the Service Provider; a status module indicating whether or not there is information stored for a respective calling terminal; and a control unit programmed first to check the data base, and then the status module, and to control the Service Provider in response thereto. The data base further includes a profile module for storing profiles of the type of information to be provided to the respective user terminals by the Service Provider.
The growing use of the caller ID in such information transfer systems allows the Service Provider to identify the calling terminal before making the information-transfer connection. Accordingly, the foregoing features of the present invention allow the apparatus to prevent the information-transfer connection when information is not available for a particular calling terminal, thereby saving the telephone costs as well as reducing the load on the communication line.
In information transfer systems not including the caller ID capability, the control system may be provided with a switch which, when a calling terminal dials the Service Provider, reads the identification of the calling terminal and transfers it to the control unit. In any case, the system could be connected through an "operator" which could provide the caller ID service or a similar user identification.
The invention also provides a method for supplying information in the cost-saving and load-reducing manner described above.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.